Carlsberg will buy 100 percent of Chongqing Beer Group
Assets Management Co., a Chongqing, China-based holding company,
according to a statement yesterday. The holding company owns
breweries in the Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces, with
capacity of about 12 million hectoliters.

The transaction comes less than a month after Carlsberg
paid about 2.9 billion yuan to increase its stake in Shanghai-listed Chongqing Brewery Co. (600132) to about 60 percent from 29.7
percent.

The Copenhagen-based brewer is seeking to expand outside
its heartland of Europe, where tough economic conditions are
weighing on beer consumption, and Russia, where government
restrictions on the sale of beer and tax increases on alcohol
have led to a declining beer market.

Carlsberg’s controlling shareholder signaled in October
that it will give the company more leeway to pursue deals. The
brewer has been targeting Asia, where booming economic growth
helped it boost volume 7 percent, excluding acquisitions and
disposals, in the first half of the year, compared with a 5
percent decline in Western Europe. It announced a tie-up with
Thailand’s Singha Corp. in September 2012.

The breweries involved in yesterday’s transaction sell
brands licensed from Chongqing Brewery, as well as the Tianmuhu
brand. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval.